Hardcore 4x4

Hardcore 4X4 delivers a teeth-rattling take on off-road racing that quickly blows a tire. You choose from various tracks and trucks for exhibition or tournament racing, but the basic action and squirrelly handling prevent 4X4 from building addictive game-play. Worse, there's no real-life licenses or two-player action.

4X4's trucks bounce wildly across the impressive 3D terrain, but breakup and redraw problems interfere. The sound effects perform well, but the cheesy guitar rock and announcer don't.

Tackling 4X4's terrain is moderate fun. But the unchallenging gameplay pegs this one as a rental.

TNN MotorSports Hardcore 4X4 was a decent racer, but repetitive courses and lack of secrets or expansions made for a short ride. Although only the first level is available for preview (and it's not even complete), this follow-up game looks promising. As these shots show, TNN 2's off to a good start--notice how the track extends off the beach into shallow water. There's plenty of potential in this franchise, and TNN 2's additions, including 16 locations, 10 trucks and split-screen head-to-head play, might just put it over the top if the tracks improve.

There's nothing quite like off-road racing to get the adrenaline going. TNN Motor Sports Hardcore 4X4 promises to capture that adrenaline, marking out new terrain for future racing titles.

The developers wanted this to be an accurate simulation of off-road racing, so they’re putting in realistic driving conditions like ice, mud and sand. They're giving your life-like weather conditions including fog, rain and snow. They're even letting you drive at night. Each of the six different trucks will perform differently depending on the terrain on each of the six tracks. Hit one of your fellow drivers and your truck will sustain damage that will affect its performance. You'll see fenders crunching, wheels busting and doors flying off.

With such realism, Hardcore 4x4 is sure to make an impact in the motor sports world.

Racing that'll rock your world

Four-wheel independent suspension makes this one of the most realistic racing titles yet: Hit a bump and your truck will rock in a way that imitates real off-road racing almost perfectly: hit a bank too hard and you'll find yourself upside-down in the mud. The developers tell us that they divided the trucks into four completely independent sections so that it would handle like a real 4x4. This game reacts to real-world physics, and the results can look pretty painful.

If there's one thing the world probably doesn't need, it's two TNN games in one year. But hey, where's it written that The Nashville Network can't join the video-game-licensing frenzy? This time, they're tapping into another Duelin' Banjo favorite, 4X4 racing.

The game's called TNN Motor Sports Hardcore 4X4--another long name, another original game. Race all six tracks, each with its own environmental differences, from weather to terrain. You have six 4X4s to choose from, each with unique controls and racing properties.To make the game as challenging as possible, developers have made sure that smart driving's your only road to victory. My advice is that you stay out of the way of that tree trunk and avoid hitting a woodchuck.

Not to be labeled passe, TNN 4X4 is a 3-D racing game with different perspectives. Just because they're backwoods peckerwoods doesn't mean they aren't tapped into that main circuit we call gaming technology. TNN 4X4 will be out sometime this summer for both Sony PlayStation and Sega Saturn. Yee-haw!